18 Comment

My UC Verde lawn is in good shape. During cold weather it does brown a bit but I have other plants in place so that the area doesn’t look lifeless. I would rate UC Verde a 6 on year round performance and looks.

Margaret

February 19, 2014 at 17:43 pm,

Hi there,

Can you give an update on how the UC Verde lawn is doing today? Looks like it'd be just shy of 5 years old now. Thanks in advance!

very helpful landscape blog!
I had this guy do my landscape and front gate out of stone I think there is a photograph in the gallery. Its based in south florida (where I live) and he used florida natives in the most unique way.

Interesting … I’m several months ahead of you with my UC Verde lawn in Phoenix. So far (see the link) it’s doing well.

You say, “When this period is over, my UC Verde lawn will be watered every 10 to 12 days” … don’t suddenly switch from twice-daily watering to every two weeks. You have to wean any xeriscape plant off the establishment schedule, increasing the watering time as you spread out the intervals. I’m watering for 12 minutes, every three days now, in Phoenix in June … it will it will increase to 15 minutes every 5 days in a week or two … etc.

And use a moisture meter … 10 minutes twice a day, unless you have wimpy sprinklers, is a lot of water. We started out with 5 minutes, twice a day and that was plenty.

Shirley,
Thanks for trialing the UC Verde Buffalo Grass. We are the producers here in in Fresno,CA and I can tell you from experience there is not other grass that can be mowed that is a tough than UC Verde. My father had a large landscape maintance company in Orange County back in the days when water wasn’t an issue and I can tell you we used alot of water to keep the grass green.
Now with our water issues and growing population we can’t afford to do that. Here in the Central Valley around 100,000 acres will go unplanted due to lack of water. Imagine if that continues… Not only will people in Southern CA pay more for their water but also any fresh produced here in the Central Valley.
Anyways I know you will enjoy the grass and it will use less water. Otherwise I wouldn’t of gotten involved with this grass.
Thanks for leading the way to the “New California Gardens”.
Danny

This is really a fantastic topic, Shirley, and I’m very interested in reading about the lawn’s progress. I recommended replacing fescue with native grass for an HOA and your “experiment” will be of great interest!!

good luck – I loved the no-mow look but had no idea how disppointing it was for you. I amire you, Shirley – you’re always learning, experimenting, teaching yourself! I hope the new variety is a success!
xoxo debra